Watch CBS News

Brian Urlacher Staying Even-Keeled As Finalist For Pro Football Hall Of Fame

(670 The Score) Come Super Bowl weekend in Minneapolis, Bears great Brian Urlacher will learn of his fate in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He's a finalist for the 2018 class in Canton, as announced early last week.

Urlacher is considered a strong candidate for first-ballot candidacy, though it's one that's somewhat complicated by the status of former Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis, whose legacy at the same position as Urlacher could shift the voting.

As it approaches, Urlacher is looking to stay even-keeled.

"I really have no expectations," Urlacher said on the Spiegel and Parkins Show on Monday morning. "I don't want to get too high, too low. I kind of try to stay in the middle, because if it doesn't happen, I don't want to get disappointed. If it does, I'll be excited. I kind of have no expectations. Whatever happens, happens. What I've done is not going to change. That's for sure. Everything that I've done is out there now. It's just up to the people who do the voting to make the decision."

Asked about the situation with Lewis, Urlacher pointed to another great linebacker in Zach Thomas who hasn't been voted into the Hall of Fame.

"That's a guy, it baffles me how he doesn't get in," Urlacher said. "There are some guys that don't get in until their fifth or sixth try and at the time they retire are second or third in certain categories at their position. Cris Carter was second on the all-time catch list and got in for his fifth try.

"There are just things I don't understand. If you're one of the best at your position your whole career, why aren't you in the Hall of Fame? That doesn't matter who you're going against or anything like that in my opinion."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.